The making of the famous Mr.Me to You Bear Cake

I made this super cute Mr. Me to You Bear a while ago for my friend's baby shower. And a lot of people asked me how I made it and what icing tip I used to make this cake.

So... I thought I give you a glimpse of the making of Mr.Bear. I didn't take a lot of pictures of the process, I only have a couple of them but I hope these few pictures will give you some idea of how the bear was made.

I used 2 size of cakes, 6" round cakes for the body and 4" round cakes for the head.
You will also need extra 6" cake for the body parts.

Here is a glimpse of how I stacked the cakes. I carved and shaped the head first before I stacked them on to the body. I assembled the 2 layers of 6" cake for the body and then attached the 4" head.
Once this is done, I secured the cakes by putting a dowel through the center of the cake.
Once the cakes is secured and doweled, I carved and shaped Mr.Bear's body.

For the body parts, I used cake truffles from a 6" round cake and the extra from the carving. (Cake truffles is a mixture of cake crumbs mixed together with any cake filling. Just use enough filling to make the crumbs moist and shape-able)

And here it is.. a 2nd picture of Mr.Bear, half frosted and all body parts attached. He kinda looked like a panda at this stage hehehe.. I then carefully frosted him with buttercream before I started piping his fur.

This is the icing tip that I used to pipe his fur, Wilton icing tip 233 not 234 as shown in pic. I took a picture of the wrong one and I'm too lazy to take another one haha. It is the same tip that you use to make grass look frosting. Tip 234 is larger, I think you can also use this one but I like the smaller tip better because you can go inside smaller space  and also it gives more delicate fur look.

You can also find a good tutorial of how to make grass icing/frosting in Wilton website.

The nose, patch, eyes, paws and the bunny are made of fondant icing which I also attached to the bear before I piped his fur..except the bunny, I attached it after the bear is done.

When you get to this stage, all you need now are strong muscle and patience to pipe all those fur on Mr.Bear hahaha

Hope this will help you a little bit with your cake decorating adventure!

Happy baking and stay inspired!

Quick and easy way to make Robot and Rocket ship cake pops

My son and I made these cake pops a while ago for his farewell party at his kindy. Yup he is growing up, he turned 5 and it was time for him to leave kindy and start primary school...I was one happy mummy and sad mummy at the same time. Just the thought of him going to a bigger school environment was so daunting to me...I was so worried about little things like..is he going to cope..is he going to like school...what about making new friends..is he going to like his new friends...All these thoughts scrambled in my head and I couldn't sleep for days!

Thinking about it now, it was kind of funny hehehe yup I had one of those Mummy's episode!
and my son was perfectly happy! he loved his first day of school and few weeks later he still loves school! yay to that!

These cake pops are so easy and quick to make. I even didn't use candy coating instead I used dark chocolate melts that you can easily get from local supermarket.

Follow the basic instructions for cake pops and use the following to decorate:

- 1 pack of candy jewelry/necklace.
- 1 pack of sour straps or any similar candy you can find.
- Lollipop sticks or ice cream sticks.
- Toothpicks

To make the rocket cake pops, you will need to shape the cakes like the shape of an egg. And square or rectangle shape for the robots.
Follow the basic instructions and now your cake pops are ready to be decorated.

Prepare your candy on a tray or plate.

For the robot's mouth, cut the sour strap candy into small rectangles. The size will depend on how big your cake pops are.
For the robot's antenna, cut a fine long piece of sour strap candy. Make sure that they will fit into the jewelry candy's hole.

For the rocket ship's wings, cut a triangle shaped sour strap candy and cut a little bit of the top part of the triangle. Please see photo for better description :)

 



To attach the details, use a toothpick to dot a small amount of melted chocolate in position for the ears, eyes, head/ antenna, and mouth. This will dry and work like glue.
Use this technique to attach the details on the rocket ships too.

It is actually easier to attach the wings right after you dip the cake pop into the melted chocolate/candy. I found that they stay stronger that way. But if you find that hard to do, you can also attach them when the cake pops have dried. Just put a little bit more chocolate/candy melt to glue them.

Lastly, have fun and enjoy!

Snorlax Loves cake!

 

I woke up at 4am this morning and I couldn't go back to sleep..while my mind is wondering around thinking about my long "to do" list for tomorrow, at the same time I just couldn't stop feeling guilty for abandoning the blog. Yes it has been a while that I haven't posted something in the blog.
There is no good excuses for it I know...but, again it is because of me being busy busy busy.

About 4 weeks ago, we finally moved in to our new house. We have settled in well now..took us about 3 weeks to finally finished unpacking etc..well not completely 100% done yet, we still have roughly about 2-3 more boxes to unpack :P
And on top of that, I still got cakes to do...kids to feed...husband to feed...house to clean...wall to repaint (which we just finished on our living room and we are loving it!! love our new wall colour!)...and my biggest project of all..building a new kitchen site for my cakes business!
See told ya I was busy! hehehe

So here it is, my first post after all those craziness...I made this cake last week and client has told me that this cake has gone internet famous!
It has been posted and shared here:
9GAG,
I waste so much time,
Smosh,
Global Geek News,
and more!

How awesome is that!
Unfortunately they don't know who made the cake..it's ME...I made it.. I made it! hahaha
But that's okay I'm happy!

Okay that's it from me now....gonna try to go back to sleep now before the kids woke me up at 7am!
Have a terrific day and happy baking!
xx

I love these Oatmeal and Date Scones!

I have been craving for some good date scones lately and honestly nothing beats having a good scone to kick start our days! So while the boys were busy playing nicely together...I decided to have a quick stop in the kitchen and made myself these yummy home made date scones. They really not hard to make..try it and you will love this recipe!

Original recipe by Dorie Greenspan but I have tweaked it to my liking by adding some dates and cinnamon.

Oatmeal and Date Scones

1 large egg
1/2 cup cold buttermilk
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cup old-fashion oats
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
140g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.

Method:

- Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 200C/400F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Stir the egg and buttermilk together.
- In a large bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together. Drop in the butter, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour.
- Quickly, working with your fingertips or pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You'll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces the size of everything in between..and that's just right.
- Pour egg mixture over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough (which will be wet and sticky) comes together. Don't overdo it.
- Still in the bowl, gently knead the dough by hand or turn it with a rubber spatula 8 to 10 times.
- Turn the dough out onto slightly floured work surface and divide it in half.
- Working with one piece at a time, pat the dough into a rough circle that's about 5" in diameter.
- Cut it into 6 wedges and place on baking sheet.
( At this point, the scones can be frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight. Don't defrost before baking-just add about 2 min to the baking time)
- Bake for 20-22 min, or until the top are golden and firmish.
- Let cool to room temperature and serve.

Happy baking!

The best gingerbread cookies and Happy holiday!

Happy holiday folks! I'm sorry I have been away from the blog for a while. Life has been super busy as I have been getting more and more cake orders that I had to turned down some of them. I felt so bad but since I am only doing this part time..I have to put my kids first and caking second :)

However I am now thinking seriously to turn this into a full time business...Yes! I'm going to take that risk and jump into caking business! Hopefully this will happen some times next year! (finger-crossed!)

Now let's talk about baking..I made these super cute and super delicious gingerbread biscuits for my friends and family this Christmas. I thought that would be a lovely gift for them :)

This recipe is great for kids and big kids..and they are also perfect for this holiday time. I tried out few gingerbread cookies recipes and I thought this is the best!
Most gingerbread cookies that I tried tasted either too gingery or too sweet..and sometimes they got soggy within few days.
This recipe however stay crisps longer and they taste as what gingerbread cookies should be..perfectly balance of ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Yummo!
 

They are great for kids to cut into different shapes and decorate with royal icing. You can also use this recipe to make gingerbread houses. Just make sure you don't roll them too thinly or they will become quite fragile after baking.

This recipe makes about 48 cookies if you use big cookie cutter. If you use smaller cookie cutters, you will get around 80 cookies.

Gingerbread cookies
adapted from Bourke Street Bakery book, by Paul Allam & David Mcguinness.

Ingredients:
1.125 kg plain flour
1tsp salt
1tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tbs ground ginger
2tsp ground cinnamon
2tsp ground nutmeg
400g unsalted butter
400g soft brown sugar
320g golden syrup or honey
1 egg
4 egg yolks


Method:
- Preheat the oven to 170C (325F/Gas 3)
- Sift flour, salt, baking soda, and spices together into a large bowl.
- Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a large bowl and mix with hand-held electric beaters on medium speed until pale and creamy.
- Add the egg and egg yolks in a slow stream and mix until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients, in three batches, until thoroughly mixed through.
- Divide the dough into four even-sized portion and flatten each portion into a disc. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 min, or for up to 3 days.
- Remove from the refrigerator and allow the dough to soften slightly.
- Roll out each disc between two sheets of baking paper until about 3mm (1/8inch) thick.
- Cut into the desired shapes using cookie cutters or a knife. Re-roll to make use of all the dough.
- Place the cookies on baking trays lined with baking paper and bake, in batches, for 15-20min, or slightly puff and golden. Allow to cool on the tray.


Royal Icing:
250g icing sugar
1 egg white
1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method:
- Sift icing sugar through a fine sieve.
- Place the egg white in a bowl and add 1 tbs of the icing sugar. Using a wooden spoon, beat to form a smooth paste, then keep adding the sugar, 1 tbs at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Stir in the lemon juice - you should be able to squeeze the mixture through a piping/icing bag. The icing can be divided into smaller batches and a few drop of colouring can be added if required.

The cookies can be eaten when icing hardens, or stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Wishing you a sweet Christmas 2011 and a sweeter New Year 2012!